REG - Tirupati Graphite - Organisational and Executive Changes

Tirupati GraphiteAnnouncement

03/01/2025 17:15

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RNS Number : 1401S  Tirupati Graphite PLC  03 January 2025

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considered to be in the public domain.

 

 

3 January 2025

Tirupati Graphite plc

 

('Tirupati', 'TG', the 'Group' or the 'Company')

 

Organisational and Executive Changes

 

Tirupati Graphite plc (TGR.L), the specialist flake graphite company and
producer of this critical mineral for the global energy transition, announces
significant organisational and executive team changes, to expedite delivery of
the Company's agenda going forward.

 

Organisational Handover

In order to enhance efficiencies, transparency and corporate governance going
forward, the Board has directed that all necessary information and
documentation, including system access and administrative control, is
transferred to the Board and appropriate Senior Executive Management Team
members.

 

Executive Director and co-CEO Appointment

 

·    Mr Anthony James Nieuwenhuys has been appointed as an executive
director (effective immediately) and as Co-CEO (subject to the execution of a
service agreement) alongside Mr Shishir Poddar in the anticipation of full
executive powers being transferred from Shishir to James over the course of
time further to those already provided to Mr Nieuwenhuys under Article 97.1.1
of the Articles of Association. Based in South Africa, Mr Nieuwenhuys has
commenced work with the operational team and is expected to travel to the
Madagascar project sites shortly.

 

Further details of the new Executive Director and Co-CEO appointment are as
below:

 

·    Anthony James Nieuwenhuys: An experienced CEO of listed mining
companies, with deep expertise in operational leadership and corporate
governance. Mr Nieuwenhuys is currently a director and CEO of TSX listed Zeb
Nickel Corp and Kopanang Gold Empowerment company, having previously been a
director of AIM listed Eurasia Mining PLC.

 

Senior Executive Management Team Appointments

 

The Company is in advanced stages of discussions with a candidate for an
interim-CFO to be based in London and intends to make an appointment in due
course.

 

The Board has approved the following appointments, subject to the execution of
their employment contracts to its Senior Executive Management Team:

 

·    Dr Uday Singh as Project Director for Madagascar and Mozambique

Mr. Singh has over 35 years of diversified experience in the resource industry
and project management in India, Africa, Indonesia, Bhutan, and more. Well
versed with mining codes/regulations of various countries for minerals
including iron ore, copper, graphite, lithium, coal, gold, etc., he has worked
on multiple projects in diverse companies. Having worked with Geological
Survey of India for about 30 years at multiple executive levels, Mr Singh has
vast geological interpretation experience. Determining resource of diverse
minerals and metals, Mr. Singh has been key in the discovery of Tirupati's
projects and their resource delineation. Mr. Singh has provided key leadership
for the Company's projects in Madagascar since their inception, and has
extensive recognition in the Malagasy Government. Mr Singh will be based in
India.

 

·    Mr Harshit Poddar as Head of Sales and Marketing

Harshit Poddar is a young and dynamic entrepreneur. Harshit is the co-founder
of SafEarth, India's leading B2B digital renewable energy platform which has
deployed over 500MWp of distributed solar across India. Harshit is also the
co-founder of Advanced Graphite Materials, where he leads development of new
products and is closely working with large consumers of graphite across India.

 

·    Mr Alastair Bath as Head of Special Projects and Corporate
Communications

With an experienced international commodity trading, business development and
public affairs background, Alastair joined Tirupati Graphite as an Associate
of Corporate and Business Development in early 2023, and was previously
promoted to interim Executive Director during 2024. In this new role, Alastair
will focus on supporting the leadership team to strengthen the Company's
corporate & business development, and further develop the investor
relations and corporate communications functions of the Company. Alastair will
be based in London.

 

 

Financial Accounting and Reporting

The Company has engaged an experienced and qualified mining industry
accounting and finance professional, located in India, who will support the
ongoing audit and administer relevant parts of the Company's financial system
going forward.

 

 

Appointment of Advisory Committee

The Board has approved establishing, subject to execution of their board
advisory contracts, an Advisory Committee that will be constituted by industry
and financial experts in certain fields to support the Company with expert
advice on an ongoing basis.

 

Reporting to the Board, the initial members appointed to the Advisory
Committee are as follows:

 

·    Mr Takis Efstathiou

Takis Efstathiou has over 25 years experience working with companies in
advancing mineral exploration and development projects in sub-saharan Africa.
Takis has worked extensively with uranium, potash, graphite and iron ore
projects in Tanzania, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Malawi, Namibia, Republic of
Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe

 

·    Mr Hemant Poddar

Hemant Poddar is an expert in Natural Flake Graphite with nearly 4 decades of
experience in the field. During his career, he has successfully developed and
operated multiple graphite mines. He has also co-founded Tirupati Graphite and
has been a director of the company until January, 2024. Mr Poddar is also the
founder of Advanced Graphite Materials in India, which is a market leader in
the graphite industry in the country. He has also been involved in developing
proprietary technology used in the Tirupati plant, allowing him to contribute
meaningfully to the optimisation of the production, as well as assisting the
company in the sales of the final product.

 

 

Commenting on the restructuring, Mark Rollins, Executive Chairman of Tirupati
Graphite said:

 

"The restructured Board is moving quickly to enhance corporate governance and
operational efficiencies. I am pleased to welcome James into his new role as
co-CEO and Executive Director. His wealth of experience in the mining industry
as a developer and operator of significant mining projects globally, as well
as in Africa, and his background leading listed companies well equip him to
lead the next leg of development across Tirupati's projects in Madagascar and
Mozambique.

 

He will be well supported by the newly appointed executives, Harshit, Alastair
and Uday, as part of the senior management team, as well as by the
restructured Board. I am very pleased the Company has also been able to secure
the expert advice of the newly appointed Advisory Committee members. The
restructured finance function will continue to evolve and the intended
appointment of a London-based interim CFO in due course will contribute
further to the success of the Company. As a team combined, we will focus on
delivering on the major value proposition and opportunity ahead for the
uniquely positioned ex-China flake graphite producer that Tirupati is."

 

ENDS

 

For further information, please
visit https://www.tirupatigraphite.co.uk/ or contact:

 

 Tirupati Graphite Plc                          

 Mark Rollins - Executive Chairman             tirupatigraphitelondon@gmail.com

 Alastair Bath - Investor Relations            +44 7356 057 265
 CMC Markets UK Plc (Broker)

 Douglas Crippen                               +44 (0)20 3003 8632
 Musst / ViTa-Connect (Financial Adviser)       tabrez@vita-connect.co

 Tabrez Khan                                   +44 746 903 3573 / +971 50871 7864

 FTI Consulting (Financial PR)                 +44 (0) 20 3727 1000

 Ben Brewerton / Nick Hennis / Lucy Wigney     tirupati@fticonsulting.com

 

About Tirupati Graphite

 

Tirupati Graphite Plc is a specialist Graphite producer and a supplier of the
critical mineral for a decarbonised economy and the energy transition, with
leading low development capital and operating costs. The Company places a
special emphasis on green applications including renewable energy, e-mobility,
energy storage and thermal management, and is committed to ensuring its
operations are sustainable.

 

The Company's operations include primary mining and processing in Madagascar
where the Company operates two key projects, Sahamamy and Vatomina with a
combined installed final production nameplate capacity of 30,000tpa, subject
to minor capex additions. The Madagascar operations produce high-quality flake
graphite concentrate with up to 97% purity and selling to customers
globally.

 

The Company also holds two advanced stage, world class, natural graphite
projects in Mozambique. Work has already commenced to optimise the economics
for development of the Montepuez graphite project, which is permitted for
100,000tpa production and where substantial construction work has already been
undertaken by the predecessor. A table of the Company's projects is provided
below:

 

 Country       Project           Stage
 Madagascar    Sahamamy          Production paused: 18,000tpa nameplate capacity
 Madagascar    Vatomina          In Production: 12,000tpa nameplate capacity
 Mozambique    Montepuez         100,000tpa permitted, construction-initiated
 Mozambique    Balama Central    58,000tpa permitted, development-ready

 

 

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